MPA BASELINE ASSESSMENT

As regional MPA networks were implemented in California, a baseline assessment program was put forth to set the benchmark from which future changes could be tracked.  Working closely with state agencies and academic institutions, MARE surveyed three of the four MPA regions from 2010 through 2015.  Data collected during this baseline program was used to characterize the species and habitats present within California’s MPAs.  Additionally, the U.S. Navy provided funding to complete a similar baseline assessment of MPAs established along San Clemente Island in 2012 and 2013.

Under a mandate from California’s 1999 Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) were designated by the California Fish and Game Commission. A total of 124 MPAs were designated following a process that was informed by science and shaped with stakeholder participation.  Now, the resulting MPA network provides some form of protection for approximately 16% of the State’s waters, 9.4% of which is designated as “no-take”.

Statewide implementation of the network was completed in a regional process, in which California’s territorial waters were broken into four regions: South Coast, Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast MPA Study Regions.  As implemented, baseline assessments were funded by the State to set the benchmark from which future changes could be evaluated.  Working as either the Principle Investigator (PI) or as a Co-PI, MARE conducted ROV surveys in three of the four study regions (North, North Central and South Coast MPA regions). Working in partnership with state agencies and academic institutions, detailed characterizations of select MPAs were produced to capture the condition of the MPAs at the time protection was provided.

​North Coast MPA Region: 
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
California Department of Fish & Wildlife
North Central and South Coast Study Regions:
Cal State University Monterey Bay’s Institute for Applied Marine Ecology
The Nature Conservancy